Planning my future suspension....

[demby123]

I'm planning on refreshing my current suspension. Now that I'm in FSP I can go kind of wild, but I'm limited to my budget and daily driver concerns.

Requirements

1. Daily driver friendly- I'm not a fan of harsh rides and the road to my job is VERY bad (all the shops in the area use it for checking suspension noise and shock bounce) and I'd rather not go with the common 8/6 setup or anything too rough.
2. Stock ride height - Need this to pop some curbs/steep embankment like drives at work and other random places, I'm also doing rallycross now so I'd rather not go lower than stock.
3. Cheapish- I know parts are never cheap, but I simply cannot spend 2k on coilovers. It's WAY out of my price range. 200-300 is the limit for each component.

I'm thinking the best DDable setup with my budget would be

Tokiko "blue" HP shocks
Either a Godspeed 25mm front sway bar or whiteline adjustable 20mm
Cheapest welded strut tower bar on ebay that doesn't have horrible reviews
and T3 camber plates.

I'm still not sure If there are any stiffer springs on the market that don't lower the car


Speaking of which, what are the spring rates of the T3 bolt on coilover kit? and at what height? Does anyone run these? These slip over the original shock towers? TBH I'm not entirely sure how they work.

[milchmann]

I would definitely suggest the adjustable White Line sway bar over the massive God Speed. Second I would not suggest installing ANY front sway bar without the rear White Line (unless you are a fan of massive under steer).

Strut braces do not help the cars handling so to speak, they rather help to preserve the frame and all of its welds during "spirited" driving. That being said, it does add a very slightly noticeable amount of rigidity to an older worn chassis. Second, hinged (read CUSCO) braces do not really work all that well because they allow for torsion which is the main force seen in the frame between the two strut towers ... but solid braces with welded-on mounts can cause significant amounts traction loss with taller ride heights, and especially so with soft springs at taller ride heights.

Tokiko makes nice shocks but seeing as you want a nice ride and assumable some better performance you might want to look at Bilstein or other variable rate shocks.

New factory springs will probably make a huge difference.

[dr.occa]

My $.02 is run the adjustable AGX rears for 97 Camaros. Pull your rear sway bar for better control of the rear wiggle. Invest in the BC Racing rear lowering perches and 6K springs.

[cdixon311]

Here's the truth of the matter. From the requirements you mentioned for being a comfortable daily driver, you can pretty much give up on building the car for any sort of anything. You really need to have a project car and a daily. Yes, you can do it, but just about anything you do to make this car corner better is going to make it rougher.

If you want the car to stay at stock height, and you need it to be comfortable, than you really shouldn't do anything but fix or slightly upgrade the stock setup. You mentioned swapping springs... you are very brave to try building a custom spring/shock setup. From what I've seen, these "budget" ways always make for a harsh ride compared to coil overs.

You say you don't want c/o, so don't get them, but you can't swap spring rates or change the ride height either in that case. Coil overs are actually much more comfortable than anything custom you could try to make. You can also get them in a weaker spring so it's not that horrible. I'm not saying buy coil overs, I'm saying if you were to mod the springs at all, you should do coil overs instead. It's well worth the $1000 you'd pay for the set. For what you would pay for springs, shocks, and those camber plates you wanted, you're almost paying the price of coil overs.

Upgraded shocks are a great idea on a stock car. A sway bar is good too since it doesn't effect the comfort of your shock/spring setup. If you don't plan for any other suspension mods, then I would highly suggest redo'ing all of your worn bushings. This helps to put/keep everything into place. Critical for auto cross. Full kits run around $300 or so I think, but some (most) bushings need to be pressed in. You can buy a press for about $200 or pay a mechanic. New factory springs might be a good investment, springs should be replaced every 10 years from what I hear. Dont' quote me on that